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Friday, August 10, 2012

INTERVIEW: Heather Parish - New Ensemble Theater Group

Heather Parish came to visit me at
the Fresno LGBT Community Center and we sat down for an interview. Heather is
the Artistic Director of the New Ensemble Theater Group, which has been staging
productions at the Broken Leg Stage, in the Tower District, for the last two
years. The theater, located at 1470 N Van Ness Avenue, is a store front style
space seating about 50 people per performance. Two other small production
companies work out of the same space.

The New Ensemble is a
group of theatrical artists committed to developing engaging work together–
work with literary merit , an ensemble approach and a commitment to emotional
immediacy in performance. At this time, the projects chosen tend to be lean in
scale, stark in aesthetic, with an emphasis on the relationship between the
actor’s voice and body with the text and action. Committed to the rights
of artists to have control over the development and production of their own
work, The New Ensemble also guides production for guest directors who wish to
take a hands-on approach to their work in a lab-style environment.

Prior to this, Heather was the
Artistic Director of the Woodward Park Shakespeare Festival for two years.

I first started talking to Heather
when her theater company recently staged a female version of the play HAMLET in
the same space. Before that they opened a play titled Chesapeake, about a performance artist who staged a protest
against a conservative senator.

They are currently about to open with
the play BAPTIZED TO THE BONE. (Ottis (Matthew Schiltz) is dying to leave Sand
Hills, North Carolina and produce his “Gospel Poetry Opera” in New York. With
no money and few prospects, he decides to hustle Gladys (Hayley Galbraith), the
local preacher’s wife. What she doesn’t know is that Ottis is also hustling her
husband, the preacher (David Marinovich). The scams deepen, complications
ensue, and events take an unexpected turn. In a swealtering North Carolina
summer, be careful what you wish for!)

Chris Jarvis: "So who is the New Ensemble
Theater Company?"

Heather Parish: "We're very urban, downtown,
hole in the wall, find a place and set it up. Our niche is, we looked around
and asked ourselves what isn't being served here in Fresno. We found there was
a lot of contemporary work that could be produced here which spoke to a
different audience that is being served, by, say Roger Rocka's. "

CJ: "Have you found that base?"

HP: "We have. We've found a core audience of about
350 people that come out to our shows."

CJ: "Do you only produce plays?"

HP: "No. We also do readings and pub nights, where
we throw together fun stuff."

CJ: "How do you choose the plays you produce?"

HP: "We choose plays that are compelling to us.
Plays that have something interesting to say."

CJ: "How to you find the plays?"

HP: "We read a lot of plays. I pay attention to
what's going on in San Francisco, New York and London. There are lot of plays
that get produced in those cities that never get produced anywhere else. These
are places where you can do play about politics, or feminism or religion."

CJ: "How is that playing in Fresno? For instance
how did COPENHAGEN go over?"

HP: "Better than I thought it was going to. I
figured we were going to get less than our normal audience, but then I reached
out to Science Professors at the local schools, they came and then they came
back for HAMLET. And we've found that when you reach out to these groups they
then realize that theater in Fresno is not just about OKLAHOMA, and they come
back for CHESAPEAKE and then they're talking about politics afterwards."

CJ: "So your marketing in Fresno has to be fairly
specific."

HP: "Yes, but after a certain group starts coming
they realize we're not so specific.The
next time it might be religion or politics, or whatever theme these plays are
wrestling with. These are themes that in people's everyday lives they're also
wrestling with. You just don't see it much in local theater."

CJ: "I grew up here and there used to be absolutely
nothing. Things have changed."

HP: "They have, especially in the last ten
years."

CJ: "With things like the ROGUE FESTIVAL."

HP: "Exactly, which we've participated in. But then
we started producing independently. We have a collective right now of about
10."

HP: "Yes, we bring in guests sometimes. But the
collective itself, one time you'll see someone on stage and the next time
they're working box office or stage managing, etc."

CJ: "How do you fundraise?"

HP: "Ticket sales. Occasionally we'll do other
things, but for the most part it's box office. And our ticket prices are $10 - $12
so it's very reasonable. Which makes it available to all kinds of people...students,
young people and others who are struggling financially. Our prices mean they
can still afford to go out and see something interesting."

CJ: "Sounds like your plays are produced in a very
intimate setting."

HP: "They are. A lot of people in Fresno find it
kind of shocking. They're right there on top of the actors."

CJ: "Are your seasons themed?"

HP: "What happen is we tend to plan the plays for
our season, and then realize about halfway through the season that a theme is
coming up. Our first year we did a play called THE PILLOW MAN and then a play
called PICASSO. THE PILLOW MAN is a literary play, about a writer in a
totalitarian state who gets called in by the cops in an investigation over
murders. Then in PICASSO, Picasso is being dragged in and being interrogated by
a Nazi because his work is considered degenerate art. So we realize we've done
two shows centered around an interrogation. Then we go into COPENHAGEN, which
is about Nazi's trying to get the atomic bomb. So we discover a theme."

CJ: "And this year?"

HP: "This year we went into CHESAPEAKE about a
performance artist who happens to be bisexual. It's a small part of the play.
Then we move into HAMLET, with a female Hamlet in a lesbian relationship with
Ophelia. And now, BAPTIZED TO THE BONE, about religious hypocrisy but with a
gay undertone. We discover a theme, but all these plays came through different
people."

CJ: "Tell me about BAPTIZED TO THE BONE."

HP: "It's only been produced two or three times in
the United States. The playwright is a poet, so it's beautifully written and
punctuated by gospel songs. It's a three character play featuring a preacher from North Carolina and his wife, who
are struggling because she hasn't been able to get pregnant, and let's face it,
that's God's plan. In comes a young hustler, who's trying to get to New York
City. The hustler starts an affair with the preacher's wife and then it comes
out that ten years earlier he'd had a brief encounter with the preacher. So the
main thrust of it is all these characters hiding who they are and what they
really want and how religious hypocrisy gets in their way. So it deals with who
you are on all levels, on a belief level and on a physical level."

CJ: "How many plays do you do a year?"

HP: "We tend to do about 3 a year."

CJ: "After this what do you have planned?"

HP: "After this we're going to be doing some
reader's theater, an outdoor event, with some H.P. Lovecraft stuff, around
Halloween, and then plan for next season."

The New Ensemble Theater Company may
soon expand out of the Broken Leg Stage and look at other, slightly larger storefront
options, in the Tower, and are looking at writing original plays of their own.

Visit the Official Website of the New
Ensemble Theater Group atNewEnsemble.com